England boss Eddie Jones rips into flops with Grand Slam hopes in tatters after poor defeat to France

EDDIE JONES’ England took a pounding in Paris as France wrecked their Grand Slam hopes in a 24-17 losing bonus point defeat.

His bid to wind up the French with ‘absolute brutality’ came back to haunt him, with the fired-up French racing to a 17-0 lead in a horror first 40 minutes for Jones’ World Cup finalists.

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And Les Bleus even showed they were up for a scrap after they bagged their third try through skipper Charles Ollivon before both teams dished out handbags.

Jones said: “We weren’t good enough in that first half and they were very good.

"That could’ve been quite ugly for us, the crowd was going nuts and they got a bit of a roll.

"It’s like we forgot how to play rugby in the first half.

"We were slow out of the blocks, we were sorry for ourselves and out of kilter, we let the situation get to us.

"We don’t want to play another 40 minutes like we played today.

"It was the first time England had failed to score in the first half of a Five or Six Nations match since 1988.

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And coach Jones’ woes could deepen today when centre Manu Tuilagi is set for scans on his injured groin.

The England talisman lasted just 15 minutes as the visitors were beaten up at the Stade de France despite Jones warning their rivals that they were the ones cruising for a bruising with his endless ‘brutality’ blasts.

France No.8 Gregory Alldritt hit back: “We read that and we were clearly going to put some fighting spirit out there, some aggression so we didn’t really care about it.

"Two brilliant and late Jonny May tries sparked late hopes of a comeback.

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The winger had earlier gifted France their second score when he foolishly stopped playing as he thought there should have been a knock-on.

May admitted: “It’s one of the first things you learn as a kid - play to the whistle and I didn’t, so I’ll own that.

"I saw it hit his hand and then somebody in front of him caught it and ref Nigel Owens did go to blow his whistle. But I own that one."